The site will also launch with Pushpin Originals — prints of new and never-before-seen art created specifically for The Pushpin by Kagan McLeod (Kaptara), Ryan North (Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure) and Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals). Prints currently available from the Pushpin range in price from $25 to $150.

The Pushpin is a project of Papergirl Press, a small printing company in Toronto committed to working exclusively with independent artists, run by former journalist Jessica Johnston. “Until a year ago, I was a newspaper editor, where I worked with freelancers to make a culture section. Now I’m working with artists to make a website. It feels similar in some ways, but my walls look way better now,” said Papergirl Press Owner Jessica Johnston. “The site is pretty much an even split between comic artists and editorial illustrators, which differentiates it from other art print sites. I love having the two side-by-side, since there is a lot of overlap between the disciplines. Comic work and illustration often also share a clever, playful sensibility, which is a big theme on The Pushpin.”

“As satisfying as it is to see my work in newspapers and magazines, having high-quality prints of it available to people means the work lives on in a more permanent way,” said Julia Breckenreid. ”It’s so great to have an outlet for my illustration that treats it with the same level of care that I put into it.”

At launch, The Pushpin will feature more than 40 prints including:
King Baby by Kate Beaton;
2 Pisces prints by Johnnie Christmas;
Pee Wee Herman’s loafers, rendered by Sarah Lazarovic
A Sweet Tooth and an Essex County print by Jeff Lemire;
3 Kagan McLeod prints including a portrait of Prince and a Pushpin Original History of Hip Hop;
2 Pushpin Original prints by Ryan North;
3 Chip Zdarsky pieces, including a Sex Criminals print and a Pushpin Original print entitled The Solar System: The Graphic Guide to Our Universe.

“Science is more important than ever. And even more important than science, is letting people know how much you love science,” said Sex Criminals artist Chip Zdarsky about his Pushpin Original. ”So I wanted to create a poster that could convey to your houseguests that you’d be perfectly at home retweeting Neil deGrasse Tyson, or that you read National Geographic magazines as a kid. My highly informative information graphic on THE SOLAR SYSTEM™ does just that.”

“I do a lot of work in text, and I love the idea of an image that can surprise you when you come closer,” said Ryan North about his Pushpin Original entitled Great Day. “This print on the surface says, ‘Hey, inspirational poster! You definitely know what this is!’ but as you get closer you realize, ‘hey wait’ — turns out it’s actually quite a bit more complicated than that. JUST LIKE LIFE ITSELF?? When I look at it I feel a little inspired and a little sad, which is a nice feeling, and I hope I can share that feeling with others.”

“The artists featured at launch are all Canadian, but genius is everywhere, so we will be expanding our borders in upcoming months, adding new work all the time,” explained Johnston.

Artists who will have work on the Pushpin in the coming months include Bryan Lee O’Malley (Seconds), Marguerite Sauvage (DC Bombshells) and illustrator Gordon Wiebe. For updates, follow @pushpinprints on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

About the artists:

KATE BEATON
Kate Beaton is a Canadian cartoonist who appeared in the comics scene in 2007 with her online work Hark! A Vagrant! Since then, she has become a fan favourite and has garnered a significant following, with illustrations appearing in places like the New Yorker, Harper’s, and Marvel’s Strange Tales anthology. Her first book with D+Q, Hark! A Vagrant, spent five months on the New York Times bestseller list, and topped best of the year lists from Time, E!, Amazon, and Publishers Weekly. Beaton’s cartoons often display a wonderfully light touch on historical and literary topics. The jokes are a knowing look at history through a very modern perspective, and a campaign against anyone with the idea that history is boring.

The Princess and the Pony, Kate’s first picture book came out with Scholastic in July 2015 to starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and many others. In September 2015, her second comic collection Step Aside, Pops, was released through Drawn and Quarterly, followed by King Baby, with Scholastic in 2016.

JULIA BRECKENREID

Julia Breckenreid is a Toronto illustrator and part illustration instructor. Conceptual and intuitive, her images have been recognized by annuals and associations such as the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, 3×3, and American Illustration. Her work has appeared in the book “100 Illustrators,” as chosen by Steven Heller, and been honoured with a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators in New York. Breckenreid’s clients include: The New York Times, Nautilus, Oprah Magazine, The Walrus, The Baffler, and many more.

MICHAEL CHO

Michael Cho is a cartoonist and illustrator based in Toronto, Canada. Michael has painted covers for Penguin and Random House, drawn numerous editorial illustrations for clients like The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly and the New Yorker and has published an art book of his drawings, Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes with Drawn & Quarterly. He has also illustrated comics and covers for publishers such as Marvel and DC. His first graphic novel, Shoplifter, was published by Pantheon and debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List.

JOHNNIE CHRISTMAS

Johnnie Christmas is the co-creator of the #1 New York Times Best Selling graphic novel series Angel Catbird (with acclaimed writer Margaret Atwood). He co-created the critically acclaimed Image Comics series Sheltered, which has gone on to translation in multiple languages. He is the creator, writer and artist of Firebug serialized in Island Magazine; as well as co-creator of the sci-fi series Pisces. He is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, earning a BFA in Communication Design/Illustration. Johnnie makes Vancouver, B.C., his home.

DANI CROSBY

Dani Crosby is a commercial illustrator, fine artist and art instructor. Her professional areas of focus have been editorial, album art, and merchandise, with clients that include Bitch Magazine, Toronto Life, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co., musician Barbra Lica, and toy company Happy Worker. She has won numerous awards including a Gold National Magazine Award for best magazine cover, and she exhibits regularly in the greater Toronto area.

CHLOE CUSHMAN

​Chloe Cushman is an illustrator, writer, and artist based in Toronto. From 2011-2016 Chloe was an Illustrator and Visual Journalist for the National Post. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, Penguin Random House books, The Walrus, and many other places.

VALENTINE DE LANDRO

Valentine De Landro is a Canadian comic book artist, illustrator, and designer. His credits include titles from Marvel, DC Comics, IDW, Valiant, and Dark Horse. He’s known for Marvel Knights: 4 and X-Factor. He is the co-creator of Bitch Planet with Kelly Sue DeConnick.GRANDUNCLE JIGGS

Jiggs is a wanderer. He lives in Elsewheres with Floyd the fox. Jiggs’ about a 100 but feels 36, cooks by a fire with wooden sticks, and when he sits, he hunkers cuz he’s ol’ Jiggs. This year, one of Jiggs’ stories was published as a picture book called Wanderer of Yawnder featuring drawings by Jay Dart.

SARAH LAZAROVIC

Sarah Lazarovic is a designer and illustrator, who approaches her work through the lens of behaviour. She spent 2015 studying behavioural economics and sustainability as a Massey Fellow, where her research focus was on behavioural design for sustainability. Sarah has worked for every major publication in Canada, founded the website Torontoist, launched the website for The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, and been a digital artist-in-residence at the Banff New Media Institute. In 2014, she wrote a book: A Bunch of Pretty Things I Did Not Buy. It’s available at fine libraries everywhere. She is currently the Creative Director of Pilot PMR, a communications and creative agency in Toronto.

JEFF LEMIRE

New York Times Bestselling author Jeff Lemire is the writer and artist of acclaimed literary graphic novels like Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Sweet Tooth, Roughneck and Secret Path, a collaboration with iconic Canadian musician, Gord Downie. Jeff is co-creator of the sci-fi epic, Descender with Dustin Nguyen and AD: After Death with Scott Snyder. He has written dozens of iconic characters for both Marvel and DC Comics.

Jeff has received the American Library Association’s prestigious Alex Award, recognizing books for adults with specific teen appeal as well as numerous Eisner, Harvey, and Shuster Award nominations. Many of his properties are currently in development at major studios for film and TV, including Descender at Sony Pictures and Essex County with First Generation Films and CBC and Plutona with Waypoint Entertainment. He lives in Toronto with his wife and son.

KAGAN McLEOD

Kagan McLeod has worked as an illustrator and comic artist since 1999. His illustration clients include The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, The Atlantic, The Washington Post and GQ Magazine. His graphic novel Infinite Kung Fu was published in 2011. Currently, he’s creating Kaptara with his former studiomate and longtime friend Chip Zdarsky. He lives in Toronto.

RYAN NORTH

Ryan North is a writer who lives in Toronto, where he writes Dinosaur Comics (you can read those for free at qwantz.com!), wrote the Eisner and Harvey award-winning Adventure Time comics (these ones cost money!), co-edited the #1 bestselling anthology series Machine of Death (you can read that at machineofdeath.net for free!) and writes the Eisner-nominated Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series for Marvel (again: they want your $$$). His latest book, Romeo and/or Juliet, allows YOU to play through and make the decisions for Shakespeare’s heroes, which is absolutely a great idea and won’t cause them to get into trouble three choices in. He once messed up walking his dog so badly it made the news. Find out more at ryannorth.ca.

CHRISTIAN NORTHEAST

Christian Northeast has worked with The New Yorker, Nickelodeon, GQ, Time, McSweeney’s, and the New York Times, to name a few. He has created comics for Fantagraphics, a book for Drawn and Quarterly, kids building blocks for Fred and Friends, and animation art for Nick Jr. His work has appeared on posters, book covers, billboards, and bottles of booze. It has been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, SPD, Graphis, Aiga, and many more.

CHIP ZDARSKY

Chip Zdarsky creates comic books and excuses to not work on comic books from his home in Toronto, Ontario. For almost 14 years he worked at the National Post newspaper as a columnist and illustrator under the name Steve Murray. In 2013 he made the jump from the dying print industry to a different dying print industry as a comic-boy, co-creating the award-winning Sex Criminals with Matt Fraction. Since then he’s done work for Image, Archie and Marvel, most recently writing Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man. But his true passion is eating.